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Last year’s 'Starfleet Command' was definitely my favorite of all the Star Trek titles ever released. I may not be a big fan of the popular TV series, but I am a fan of expensive looking things blowing up. Much like the original SFC, Starfleet Command II: Empires at War dishes out a healthy dose of starship combat along with a few important improvements. The game’s premise goes something like this: The player takes the role of a starship captain under one of eight very different races. Each race has a complete different selection of starships each with their own unique types of combat/defensive technology. As the game progresses the player takes part in various mission types that are dictated by everything the player does. The universe that Starfleet Command II takes place in has cause and effect, and the result is a very dynamic adventure.
The combat is heavily based in strategy and has major influence from the popular Star Trek Board Game. Managing shields, weapons, sensors, and navigation are all accessed through a control panel while the battle takes place in real-time. The ships used in Starfleet Command are large warships and the combat has a lot of similarities with naval combat. The demo has already been floating around for a while so most of you probably have already witnessed the many visual improvements made to the ship models, as well as the universe they exist in. Unlike the original, Taldren has added slick new lighting effects and damage textures that now provide a much richer visual treat. The pre-game menus have been tweaked and in my opinion are a lot easier to navigate, not to mention sharper to look at. Other than the two new interface and ship designs for the two new races, Taldren has kept a lot of the visual traits of the original intact in its sequel. The games biggest change is the new single player gameplay environment called a ‘Metaverse’. Originally called the ‘Dynaverse’ (referring to the dynamic mission structure), the existing universe has been completely overhauled to reflect the current expansions of the original empires, as well as the addition of two new races. This new universe is called a ‘Metaverse’, as it not only accurately reflects a universe full of dynamic mission variables, but also includes areas of political influence that can also affect certain events and outcomes. In terms of control, Taldren is only dramatically changing one aspect: fleet control. The act of switching between ships in order to carry out certain actions was a time consuming process since it required the navigation of a few menus. Taldren has created a new fleet menu that can exist as a part of the player’s active game interface. This new command bar provides a formations list, direct access to the firing commands for the rest of the fleet as well as little ‘hot links’ that provide a quick point-of-view hop to the desired ship. To tell the truth I was a little worried when it was announced that one of the new races would be especially adept at fighting with missile technology, but after battling with this race several times I now feel there is really nothing to worry about. The balance question brought up with this revelation was quickly answered with the addition of rapid-fire anti-missile defense phasers. These new weapons don’t make missiles obsolete since they have limited firing time before a recharge, but they effectively level things out after the apparent increase in focus on missile combat. The Metaverse I played in isn’t fully functional but it gave me a pretty good taste of what I should expect, and I liked what I played. I can see that Taldren is capable of recognizing what needs fixing and what doesn’t. Starfleet Command II: Empires at War has the makings of a very worthy sequel.
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